


Mystery of the Monoplane's Mission

by Aurora_Mandeville



Series: Sanford Secrets [2]
Category: Linda Carlton - Fandom, Mike Mars - Fandom, Tom Corbett: Space Cadet Series - Carey Rockwell
Genre: Astronauts, F/M, Fantasy, Mystery, space cadets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:55:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26674744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurora_Mandeville/pseuds/Aurora_Mandeville
Series: Sanford Secrets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787215
Kudos: 2





	1. An Unusual Orientation

“Tom, can you see any place to sit?” asked the brunette as her blue eyes scanned the large room. Other students were milling around, not really sitting, just standing and chatting away, talking with their friends or meeting new people.   
Tom Corbett, standing more than a head taller than his pretty companion, held his eyes on one fellow before glancing around. He knew the real reason for the question, hence his refusal to sit down just yet. He knew she didn’t want Ralph Clavering to sit by her, so taking a seat right now would not have been a good idea. Ralph could easily find a place to sit nearby. Tom leaned over. “I think we should hang around the back row for now, Linda. Ralph’s heading closer to the front. And besides, I seem to have lost Dot.”   
That got Linda Carlton’s head swerving. “Really? Where could she have gone off to? If it’s the bathroom, I hope she knows it has to be quick, I can see that the principal wants to start getting things underway.” She nodded towards the podium where the head of the university was fiddling with some papers and adjusting his glasses.   
“You want to go check?” asked Tom, shooting a furtive glance at Ralph.   
Linda winced. “I might, I don’t want to miss anything either.”   
“I don’t think missing the first five minutes of introductions is going to kill you,” said Tom with a smirk. “I bet I can introduce them all faster than they can.”   
Linda chuckled. “Probably. Alright, save me a seat and I’ll go check real quick.”  
“Ok, but just to let you know, I might be waiting for you to return so Ralph doesn’t sit by us,” replied Tom.   
Linda laughed. “Fair enough. Be back in a bit!” She dashed off towards the restrooms. Tom took to looking around the room again. Some people were finally sitting down. He also noticed Ralph was looking around too, no doubt realizing that Linda wasn’t there at the moment. He glanced at Tom and walked towards him.   
“Where’s Linda?” he asked, trying to be polite, but a bit of jealousy was showing through. No matter how many times Linda told him Tom was nothing more than a brother to her, Ralph seemed to be of the opinion that she preferred Tom’s company to his simply because she unknowingly had a crush on Tom. It really was only because Ralph Clavering was a spoiled brat and wouldn’t take no for an answer.   
Tom nodded towards the bathrooms. “She went to find Dot.”   
“Oh, I see. Well, if you see her, tell her I’ve saved her a seat.”   
“Can’t Linda choose her own seat?”   
Ralph sniffed. “A woman of Linda’s high ranking shouldn’t be sitting with the likes of you, farm boy. Just because Mr. Carlton is paying for your college doesn’t make you one of us.”   
“I never wanted to be one of you,” said Tom with a low growl. “I prefer my friends to be more mature than that.”   
“Why you little . . .” He was interrupted by microphone feedback. The two glanced at the stage. A gray-haired man stood at the podium in a well-tailored suit. With him was a colonel in full military regalia. Behind them hung three flags, the one in the middle was the Earthen flag, it looked like the old Olympics flag, but the background was blue with the three top circles green and the bottom four had two white circles on the outside and two brown on the inside. To the left of the Earth flag was the Venusian flag, a peach background with orange and golden swirls. To the right of the Earth flag was the Martian flag, red with two white stripes.   
“Testing, testing . . . may I have your attention please. We’re going to start here in a few minutes to give everyone enough time to get back from the restrooms. I ask that everyone find a seat and give us your full attention when we begin. Thank you.”   
Ralph turned back to Tom. “We’ll talk later.”   
“Obviously,” muttered Tom. Ralph turned and walked towards the front of the room to sit with the rest of the rich crowd. Tom let out a huff to calm himself down before turning around to glance at the seats that were filling up quickly. He noticed a set of four seats in the far back, the only ones open in the row. He went to sit down in one. Next to him was a trio, two boys and a girl. They paused in their whispering to look at him. Both guys looked like they were surfer dudes, one had blond hair while the other had brown, and the girl looked like she was from the islands.   
“Hey man, that was looking pretty intense there,” said the boy sitting closest to him, the one with blond hair. “I don’t mean to pry, but, do you know him?”   
Tom sighed. “Unfortunately yes. We basically grew up together.”   
“What’s his beef with you?” asked the other boy.   
Tom could feel the pit forming in his stomach. “I’m not rich enough for their ‘crowd’, basically.” He paused, and because he hung out with Linda a lot, and the rest of the rich kids, the kids of his own class shunned him as well. But they didn’t need to know that. “And he likes a friend of mine, but thinks she has this unknown crush on me because she prefers my company to his.”   
The girl scoffed. “To be honest, I don’t blame her. I didn’t like the looks of that guy.”   
“Yeah, I’d have helped you beat him up,” said the brown-haired boy. “Even more so now that I know he wouldn’t have liked me either because I’m definitely not rich enough.”   
“So, how did you get into Sanford?”   
“Oh, his parents,” he replied, pointing at the blond boy.   
“Oh, where are my manners. Here we are, taking your side against a guy we’ve never met, and we haven’t introduced ourselves yet!” The blonde chuckled as he held out his hand. “I’m Robby Hoenig. My parents are marine biologists and they saved up enough for both of us to attend Sanford together.” He pointed to his friend. “And this is my best friend Harry Smith. Technically we both could have gotten in on scholarships, but since my parents had the money, they used it.” He pointed to the girl. “And I’m glad we didn’t get in on a scholarship because then Harry’s girlfriend, Irene Marshall, might not have gotten in either.”   
Irene scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, please, I’m sure all three of us would have qualified. You’re both just as smart as I am . . . sometimes.”   
Harry gasped. “Sometimes? I am as smart as you are! I just don’t know as much as you do.”   
Irene laughed. “Good save.” The two kissed.   
Robby chuckled before turning back to Tom. “And you are?”   
“Oh! I’m sorry. I’m Tom Corbett. Pleased to meet you.” Tom shook hands with each one in turn.   
“Nice to meet you too, Tom,” said Harry. “So what field are you going into?”   
Tom beamed. “Astronaut! Linda, my friend, is too. We’ve already gotten our flight training in. But uh, I have a suspicion you guys are aiming more for the ocean-based sciences.”   
Harry grinned. “You got it. I’m aiming more for Oceanography myself. Robby here is following in the family business, and Irene is going for more of a marine veterinarian.”  
Tom grinned. “That’s cool. We’re certainly in the right place to chase our dreams!”   
Robby chuckled. “That’s for sure!”   
“Ooh, Tom, who are your new friends?” Tom glanced up. Linda had returned with their friend, Dot Crowley. Linda looked small in comparison to Tom, but Dot looked tiny. She was no more than five feet tall. Her blue streaked blonde hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail and her hazel eyes sparkled with curiosity at the three people Tom just met. Tom quickly introduced them.   
Dot sat down after the pleasantries ended. “Ooh! So the three of you are going into the sea and the three of us are going into space! This is cool!” She turned to Tom. “And thanks for finding us seats. This place is packed!”   
Tom smiled. “No problem.” His smile wavered a bit. “Though Ralph saved some for you too.”   
“But we heard him say he was only saving a seat for Linda, not Dot,” pointed out Robby slowly. “You know, before he got on his high horse about you being friends with her.”   
Dot gasped as she glanced at Tom. “Ralph did it again?” She scooted further back into her seat. “Well then, we’re not going up front, even if the rest of our friends are there. Ralph does not get the pleasure of our company, least of all yours, Linda.” She paused as she realized Linda had not said a word and glanced at her friend. She was sitting with her arms crossed, and at first glance she looked like she was merely pouting, but Tom and Dot knew she was furious. “Linda?”   
Linda glanced up at them, her eyes flashing with fury. “If Ralph seriously thinks he can get away with talking to someone I consider my brother like that . . .”   
Dot patted her hand. “I think not sitting with the group is punishment enough for him. He’ll eventually learn that he can’t talk like that to your family.”   
Tom scoffed. “He sure is taking his darn time about it.”   
Linda scoffed in turn. “That’s because he thinks that since he has Aunt Emily’s seal of approval, he can do no wrong. Oh, and that he can just simply buy my love.”   
Harry grimaced. “Bleh, since when is that love? Has the guy ever seen a real couple?” Before anyone could answer, microphone feedback brought their attention to the stage. Just the colonel was standing there.   
“Hello everyone, welcome to Sanford Institute!” A cheer went up. He chuckled. “I am so glad to hear your enthusiasm! I am Colonel Otis Drummond and I’m in charge of the astronaut program. Before I turn the orientation to our illustrious principle, Dr. Hugo Hoderlin,” he indicated the gray-haired gentleman, who gave a quick bow of his head, “I wanted to explain how this is going to go. Dr. Hoderlin will give the full orientation, and once he is finished, everyone is free to go, except those for the astronaut program. You will stay here and I will give you more information before I let you go find your rooms. Understand?” Heads nodded. “Good.” The colonel turned to the doctor. “Doctor? You have the floor.”   
Dr. Hoderlin rose from his chair and approached the microphone. “Thank you, Colonel. And on behalf of the staff of Sanford Institute, I welcome you to Sanford and I hope we will prepare you for the jobs you’re dreaming of!” A cheer went up, a cheer that died as soon as it started. The doors to the room opened with a slam and a young man in a pilot’s suit dashed towards the seats. He quickly plopped himself down next to Linda before peeling off his helmet, revealing a mess of sandy blond hair. He turned to the group and his grey eyes took them in quickly.  
He grinned sheepishly at them. “Sorry. Is this seat taken?” he whispered.  
“Um, uh, no,” said Linda. She chuckled nervously. “You’re more than welcome to it.”   
He smiled. “Thanks.” He turned around, looking for someone. The doctor cleared his throat. Everyone turned back to him.   
“Well, it looks like someone just came in by the seat of his pants.” There was a soft chuckle, the young man’s face turning red. “I think we can wait a bit longer for the young gentleman to take off his pilot suit. I’m sure that must be feeling quite uncomfortable right now since he’s no longer in a plane.”   
The young man rose. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to make everyone wait too much longer.”   
The colonel rose. “Are you here for the astronaut program?”   
The young man nodded his head vigorously. “Oh yes sir!”   
“Then we can continue on without you, I’ll go over everything again once we split up.”   
The young man saluted. “Yes sir! Thank you sir!” He turned and dashed out of the room. A group of guys and gals a few rows over jumped up and cheered for a brief moment before sitting back down, high-fiving each other. One of the guys, though, seemed to glare after him. Linda committed his face to memory. He had almost platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, eyes that looked cold and cruel.   
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” said the doctor with a soft chuckle. “Let’s get back to our orientation.” He went into detail explaining the rules of the school, a brief history of both Sanford Institute and its neighbor, Cedar Ridge College, and how and why both colleges had a three-roommate system going on. After they separated, everyone would be handed their room numbers. While Cedar Grove was more open to allowing students in choosing their rooms and roommates, due to the astronaut program, Sanford separated by program.   
As soon as the doctor finished the orientation, he called for all the students of other programs to join him and the other program heads out in the hall. The young man had returned long before then, catching the majority of the orientation. In the rush just following the end of the orientation, the young man quickly introduced himself as Mike Samson.   
“Well, it was good to meet you guys,” said Robby, shaking everyone’s hands. “I hope we can see you all again soon.”   
Tom shook his hand heartily. “I do too. It was great to meet you!”   
“And sorry for barging in like that,” said Mike as he shook hands with them. “I was told in my letter that I had to report here for orientation or get kicked out of the program. And I didn’t see the letter until this morning.” He chuckled nervously. Linda and Tom shared a glance. They both figured there was a particular guy behind that. They glanced at Robby, Harry, and Irene, they probably saw the look on that guy too based on the look they gave them.   
“At least you made it,” said Harry, “though it looks like you broke the sound barrier to do so.”   
“Guys, we’ve got to go!” said Irene, pointing at the other students filing out.   
“See you around!” chorused Robby and Harry.   
“Bye!” They all waved before Robby and Harry dashed off to catch up with Irene and the rest of the students.   
The colonel cleared his throat into the microphone. “Everyone for the astronaut program, please come sit in the first three rows.” Mike, Tom, Laura, and Dot glanced at each other before moving up. The group of people who had cheered upon seeing Mike joined them.   
“You made it! This is great!” exclaimed one of the girls, her dark brown curls bouncing with her excitement.   
“You were cutting it close, though,” said a fellow, his sharp, brown eyes looking at Mike with worry.   
Mike chuckled. “So I did, but here I am!” He quickly introduced Tom, Linda, and Dot to Martie Sherrod from Georgia and Johnny Bluehawk, a Cheyenne. They were part of Mike’s squadron back at the Air Force base. Mike pointed at the boy with the cold eyes, revealing that Rod Harger was the fourth man on the team. Tom and Linda shared a look. They now had a name to go with the face. Mike was going to introduce the rest of the group, but was interrupted by the colonel.   
“Alright, we’re all situated. Let me begin by telling you to look around. See how many people are here?” The students glanced around and nodded. Tom thought there were a hundred there, at least. “Half won’t be here at the end of the year.” The students looked at him in shock. “That’s right, half won’t be here, at least, not in the astronaut program. Some who don’t make it through go on to work on the ships themselves or in the command center, others just go on to other degrees. The astronaut program is a tough, rigorous program and not everyone is set up for it, unfortunately. Not even all of the Venusians and Martians are set up for it, and many have traveled in ships before. I mean, that’s how they got here.” A few students chuckled. “But the astronaut program involves more than pleasure space travel. You are called to explore the rest of the vastness of space, to help in emergency situations, and to keep the peace. You are, to an extent, a kind of police force and a branch of the military. And I see a few here from the military, you’ve got a leg up on the others. Anyways, you will be getting the first glimpses for brand new tech and some of you might even get to test run the new tech.” A murmur of excitement went through the crowd. “Yes, loads of exciting things, but you will be expected to work hard and keep a cool head about you. You will be separated into groups of three, and of those who are left at the end of this year will be paired up with two other groups in a team of nine with a captain overseeing your progress. Each of those teams will be assigned to a ship, and possibly a few will be selected to test the new tech. We shall see.” He smirked. “That being said, welcome to the astronaut program at Sanford Institute, and good luck to all of you!”


	2. Tom's Roommates

Laura and Dot squealed when they got their room numbers, they were roommates in room 573! Tom’s spirit began to sink yet again, he didn’t quite want to be roommates with anyone he knew, but he wouldn’t be unhappy about having a familiar face to room with either. He took his key room and let out a nervous breath. Well, he was going to have to just deal with it, whoever he was roommates with.   
“Hey Tom.” Tom turned. There was Mike Samson. “Johnny and I are rooming together, but we don’t know who the third guy is. What’s your room number?”   
Tom’s spirits began to rise a little, he did like hanging out with Mike and Johnny, even though they had just met. “Um, room 424.”   
Mike winced. “We’re a level above you, in 556.”   
Tom’s spirits sank. “Oh, darn.”   
“Yeah, man, but, uh, good luck with your roommates. If they don’t work out, I think they’ll change your assigned room at request, but you should double-check that, just to be sure.”   
“Thanks Mike.”   
Mike smiled. “No problem! Let’s check in together at lunch.”   
Tom grinned. “That sounds perfect. See you then!”   
“Great! See you then!” Mike walked off and was joined by Johnny, off in search of their third roommate, or at least their room. Tom sighed and began walking around aimlessly. He listened in on a few conversations, even heard that Ralph was in room 506, which was a relief in a way. But he didn’t hear about any other people in room 424. Shrugging, he figured it best not to look any further and get up to his room. He would probably meet them when they came in. He went to gather up his luggage and went to the student hall. He was all alone in the elevator, giving him time to mull over his thoughts. What happens if he was rooming with aliens? Really, how cool would that be? They got to see space already and traveled through the stars. He could ask them what it was like, he could find out more about life on Venus and Mars. They could theorize about where the colonization process would take them. What other planets could become great for colonies? What technological advances could get them to other planets faster? Heck, even out of their solar system? When Tom stepped off the elevator, he was grinning from ear to ear. Yes, space was vast, but that just meant there was a lot that could be explored. Who knows what they could find out there. The mere thought of it thrilled Tom.   
He found room 424 fairly quickly and paused as he looked at the name on the door under the number. Polaris. Tom blinked, that was the name of the North Star. Why would he be in this room? He shook his head. The system had to be random, right? But then, why this feeling that this was somehow planned? He shook his head. No. this had to have been random. Once they had their top team all figured out, then they would give them the Polaris room. At least that’s what Tom figured was the most likely scenario. The simplest solution was usually the correct one. Letting out a breath, he unlocked the door and walked in.   
The room was nice, clean, and simple. Three beds lined the three walls. Armoires were set at the foot of each bed. A window was over each bed with the curtains open. At the head of one bed was what Tom figured was the door to the bathroom. In the middle of the room were three desks. On either side of the door that Tom walked through were bookshelves. After another quick survey of the room, Tom realized he was the only one there. His roommates might in fact be still looking for him back in the auditorium. He let out a huff, he didn’t want to choose beds without them. But now that his luggage was in his room, maybe he could head back down to the auditorium and find them. Maybe everyone else had finally found their roommates and they’d be a lot easier to find. There was only one way to find out.   
Tom let out another huff and pulled his bags further into the room. As he straightened up, he glanced out the window of the middle bed. He walked closer to the bed and looked out. Those brick buildings in the distance had to be the arts college, Cedar Ridge College. The two colleges had a playful rivalry that could get a little out of hand, but it was all in good fun. He glanced down before turning away, but paused and looked down again. On the ground below was a black car, and it looked like one of the students was leaning into the driver side. The student paused a couple times and glanced around the vicinity, but didn’t look up. From this distance, Tom thought it looked similar to Rod Harger, the fourth member of Mike Samson’s team. But then, why was he acting all suspicious? Tom blinked and turned back towards the door. Someone had inserted a key and was unlocking it.   
“I can’t believe you made me do this!” shouted the taller of the two men who walked into Tom’s room. He had tanned skin, auburn hair, and hazel eyes. He was lugging several suitcases. The other guy, who had sandy blond hair and grey eyes, just walked in nonchalantly, but paused when he noticed Tom.   
“Ah, I see our roommate got here first and has claimed his bed,” he said, a little sharply.   
Tom blinked before moving away from the window. “Oh no! I was just looking out the window!”   
“What could be so interesting?” said the same guy, sounding uninterested.   
“One of our classmates was talking to a guy in black vehicle.” That peaked their interest. The tall guy dropped the luggage as both dashed to the window to look out. Tom pointed and they glanced down. The conversation was ending and the black vehicle drove away, while Rod, if it was Rod, went back into the building. All three shared looks.   
“Well, that was certainly odd . . .” mumbled the tall one.   
The other guy shrugged. “Maybe it was his dad, or something. Some of these guys coming here are pretty darn rich.” Tom noticed the ice in his voice when he said ‘rich’.   
“That’s certainly a possibility, and most likely is the case. But if that is the guy I’m thinking of, I don’t want to be on the same team as him. At all.”   
Tom backed away from the window. “Well, I guess it’s safe to say that’s one thing we all agree on. I didn’t like the looks of him either.”   
“Well if it’s Rod Harger, you were hanging out with his team leader from the base, Mike ‘Mars’ Samson,” said the shorter guy.   
Tom blinked. “Wait, how do you know that?”   
“Oh, it was easy. We all saw him sitting back there with you and your two girlfriends.”   
“Ok, first off, those two are like sisters to me, nothing more.”   
The guy scoffed. “Yeah, sure.”   
“And secondly, I was referring to how you knew that Rod and Mike were on the same team. The rest of the team was talking to us and Rod looked like he isolated himself.”   
“It’s called eavesdropping, dimwit.”   
Tom blinked then crossed his arms. “Then I don’t need to introduce myself, you already know my name. Will you introduce yourselves please?” The guy just stared at Tom  
The tall one sighed. “Yeah, sure, I’m Astro, from Venus. And before you ask, we don’t have surnames on Venus, and no, I don’t know why that is.”   
Tom held out his hand, smiling. “Pleasure to meet you Astro. And don’t take this the wrong way, but I was kind of expecting you to look . . . well, a little different? You just look like a regular human.”   
Astro scoffed. “Well I am.”   
“I know, I know, but I was thinking that being on a different planet would give you, I don’t know, different hair colors, or something?” Tom shrugged. “Sorry, that sounded really bad.”   
Astro chuckled and shook his head. “Naw, you’re fine. Maybe we will at some point, just not right now.”   
Tom smiled. “Fair enough.” He turned to the other guy. “And you are?”   
He let out a soft growl. “Roger Manning, Mr. Smartypants.”   
Tom waved his hand. “Oh no, you got it all wrong, that’s not my name. It’s Tom Corbett. Guess you weren’t paying that much attention, else you would also know my friends’ names too.”   
Astro chuckled as Roger let out a soft growl again. “Would you tell me your friends’ names?”   
“Stick with me for lunch, and I’ll introduce them to you.”   
Astro grinned. “That sounds great.”  
Tom grinned. “Perfect.” He turned to Roger. “What about you? You coming along?”   
Roger scoffed and shook his head. “Nope, not happening. Aren’t they a bunch of rich kids too?”   
“Oh, so you paid enough attention to learn that?”   
“Didn’t have to, they look like a bunch of rich kids. You don’t though, so how did you end up with that crowd?”   
“My dad works on a ranch,” said Tom softly, “and his boss was kind enough to pay for my classes. His daughter came over often and was more like a part of our family than her own.”   
“Oh, good to know,” mumbled Roger. He went to his luggage and picked up his backpack. He placed it on the bed nearest the bathroom. “Listen, since we’re choosing beds, I’m taking this one, for now. I don’t want to be roommates with you, any more than I’m sure you want to be roommates with me. I shall put in a request to move as soon as I can.” He crossed his arms. “Unless the both of you want to move?”   
Tom shrugged. “Whatever they decide to do. That is, if we don’t mind being a team here soon.”   
Roger scoffed. “You’re definitely not the types I’m looking for in teammates.”   
“Then what are you looking for in teammates?” asked Astro.   
“Certainly not you two.”   
Tom and Astro glanced at each other. “Uh, that doesn’t answer his question.”   
“Listen, I don’t have to tell you anything. Let’s just get through this until the transfer, alright?”   
Tom rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He turned to Astro. “Which bed do you want?”   
Astro pointed to the bed opposite of Roger’s. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take that one.”   
Tom chuckled as he placed his backpack on the bed he had been standing near. “Guess I get this one after all.”   
At noon, Astro and Tom went off in search of Tom’s friends in the cafeteria. Tom found out along the way that Astro did not have any friends. The two were chatting away while they looked and Tom found that he liked Astro a lot. The Venusian was an orphan and began working on spaceships when he was sixteen. He had only entered a scholarship on a whim and was pleasantly surprised when he won it. He was glad that Mr. Colton paid for Tom’s classes, otherwise they would have never met.   
Tom smiled. “Me too.” And he meant it. Astro was quickly becoming the best friend Tom never had growing up. Sure, he had Linda, and the two of them were close, but it just wasn’t the same, especially since Linda did a lot with her two closest friends, Dot and Louise Haydock. Louise was going to Cedar Grove though, so they wouldn’t get to see her as often, but at least she was still close.   
“Hey Tom!” Tom beamed when he saw Laura and Dot waving to them. He also recognized the third member of their group.   
“Hi Laura, Dot!” He turned to their roommate. “Fancy seeing you again, Martie!”   
Martie Sherrod laughed. “I guess it was just my luck running into you again.”   
Tom chuckled. “We’re like boomerangs, we keep coming back.” The girls chuckled.   
“So, it looks like you’re getting along quite well with one of your roommates,” pointed out Martie. “Where’s the other one?”   
“Oh, Roger’s all high and mighty, says we’re not the right teammates for him,” muttered Astro.   
Tom chuckled softly. “The guy says he doesn’t like spoiled rich kids, and then kinda starts acting like one. But I’m glad that one roommate is pretty awesome.” Astro beamed. Mike and Johnny showed up right then with their roommate and introductions were made. Mike’s and Johnny’s roommate was Orin McMahan, a Martian with fair skin, brown hair, and green eyes. Mike was never happier.   
“My calling card is Mike Mars,” explained Mike, “because of my initials, my full name is Michael Alfred Robert Samson, and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve been working towards getting into space. I’ve been wanting to go to Mars.”   
Johnny chuckled. “And now he’s got something of a heads up by being roommates with a Martian.”   
“So what about your other teammate from the base, Rod Harger?”   
Mike shrugged as he glanced around. “Haven't seen him.”   
“Good,” muttered Johnny.   
Mike shot him a look. “Johnny.”   
“What? Come on Mike, open your eyes! You found your acceptance letter in his room!”  
“Say what?” Martie exclaimed. Tom and Astro shared a look.   
Johnny nodded. “Yes! Mike was telling us that he was just wandering around our empty rooms when he saw an envelope on Rod’s floor. Of course Mike, being the neat freak he is -”  
“Hey!”   
Johnny ignored him and continued, “He picked it up and saw his name on it. So he went right away to Major Killinger and the Major sent him here in the jet!”   
“Good ole Killinger!” cheered Martie.   
Mike chuckled. “Yeah, but I was cutting it real close there.”   
Johnny scoffed. “No argument there. If you hadn’t walked into Rod’s room right when you did, you wouldn’t even be in the program now!”   
“And Rod’s probably not showing his face because he’s so disappointed!” said Martie.   
“Now Martie,” began Mike, but he was interrupted by Astro.   
“Or it’s because he’s planning something else!” Everyone looked at the Venusian.   
“What do you mean by that?” asked Johnny slowly.   
Tom and Astro told them what they had seen out of their window. “Though, to be honest, Roger could be right and that it was just his father. Besides, we can’t exactly be sure it was Rod, we couldn’t exactly see his face.”   
“Oh no, I could tell, it was definitely him,” said Astro with a firm nod of his head.   
“But he said his dad was away on a business trip,” said Johnny slowly, sharing a glance with Martie.  
She nodded. “Yeah, he did.”   
“So then, who did we see him talking with?” asked Tom as he and Astro shared a glance.  
Mike quickly stood. “Alright you guys, enough with the conspiracy theories! We’re here to become astronauts, not astro-nuts. We’re going to have to be at our best physically and mentally, conspiracy theories have no place in our brains if we’re going to pass. So this talk ends here. Who’s with me?” The others answered in the affirmative, but the looks that they shared showed that it wasn’t going to be far from their minds. Even surprisingly Mike, who saw Rod walk past. Mike shot him a questioning look, and got a quick, icy glance in reply before Rod disappeared from view. Rod Harger seemed to be up to something, and they all had a suspicion it wasn’t good.


End file.
